This proposal is for a summer research program for disadvantaged high school students and K-12 teachers held at the Wadsworth Center in Albany, NY. The research scientists who supervise the students in this program are also faculty in the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the State University of New York at Albany's School of Public Health. The Wadsworth Center is a unique laboratory with state-of-the-art facilities, in which biomedical research programs have developed alongside mission- oriented public health laboratories. The research interests of the participating faculty cover a broad range, with emphasis in molecular genetics, cell biology and structural biology. Eight high school students and four K-12 science teachers will be recruited from schools in the Albany area, focussing on city school districts (Albany, Troy, Schenectady) which have the highest enrollment of disadvantaged students underrepresented in the sciences. Laboratory projects will be chosen that are interesting, likely to yield results within the time-frame of the program, and allow for some degree of student/teacher development and independence. The student/teacher participants will attend weekly group meetings along with college students in a parallel undergraduate summer research program run at the Wadsworth Center. These meetings are used to discuss science, education, and career-related issues and to monitor student progress. The students make short oral presentations of their work in a symposium during the last week of the program, and also submit written reports before they leave, to stress the importance of communication skills within science.